A Negative Mind
by Tenebrion Factor
Summary: Sickness finds that she's losing control of her host once again, and decides to enlist the help of a certain doughboy. New chapter up...Finally.
1. Default Chapter

A Negative Mind

A/N: Devi's back. Let's begin where we left off, shall we?

Disclaimer: All belong to JV.

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Prologue

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A few weeks earlier 

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Haunting haunting haunting haunting …..She was always being haunted by these things. She felt stupid for letting them do this to her, making her so afraid. These fears that consumed her every nerve, her body, her mind. She felt the need to cry at all of it, but the tears wouldn't come, so she painted instead, jabbing her brush at the canvas, angrily.

Stabbing, crushing, killing all of her pain away.

Why did life have to be filled with such shit? Filled with little boys that watched their families die, and wonderful men that couldn't help but go horribly insane and brutally murder people? Why did it have to be like that?

Why couldn't it just be okay? Why couldn't she just be…..happy?

Devi D. lay on her couch, eyes closed, listening to the sounds of her apartment. Her mind was ablaze with thoughts, but no matter how much they persisted, she managed to block them out. All these excess thoughts…driving her crazy again…

How she longed for sanity.

Sanity from others. Perhaps a little from herself. After all, hearing voices wasn't exactly something a sane person would experience. So maybe she wasn't as sane as she once thought. Maybe…just maybe…she was just as sick as….

Sanity. She just had to find some, out there alongside a tiny bit, if not more, of normalcy. But that wasn't likely to happen; not after the latest events. Sure, she felt kind of bad for the things that had happened. Just yesterday, with that boy and that monster she sought to escape.

She shuddered, falling back into memories. Memories of yesterday, and of days before. Memories of that night at the monster's house, all those words, and those knives.

"Oh, why couldn't he, they, have been sane…somewhat? Or normal? I mean, even that guy who shit in his pants is starting to look decent, except for the whole bowel control thing. What makes me so damn unlucky? Why couldn't they have just been fucking normal?" she asked herself, opening her eyes and staring at the ceiling.

"How…boring…"

Devi's sat straight up, her eyes scanning the room, in a panic. That voice…it sounded so familiar…it couldn't be…She gulped something down in her throat, and swung her legs over the side of the couch, ready to jump up if necessary.

A shadow stepped out, grinning, and staring at her with vacant eye sockets. "Hello, Devi. So nice to see you again."

Devi stared in disbelief. "Sih-Sickness?"

Sickness nodded, still smiling, and yanked two shiny screws into view. It forced them into the empty eye sockets, and turned its attention back to Devi once more. "That's better….now…where were we?…"

Devi screamed.


	2. PeRFecTiOn

**A Negative Mind**

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Disclaimer: All belong to JV.

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Chapter 1: PeRFecTiOn

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"It's been a while since you've last eaten. Why not….get out?" the pesky voice responded, digging its stubby arms into the cushion of the couch. "It's not as if you aren't hungry. What's the matter? **_Afraid _**of what's out there? In the _real _world?"

She didn't answer. The creature didn't expect her to, and continued.

"It's almost that time of year again. You never call your family, or any of those old flames," it watched in delight as she grimaced. "I saw that, you know. You can never forget about them . The way they make you feel that first time you go out. Then your eyes meet their eyes, and….you run."

Devi leaned forward and tried to swat the thing away. "Shut up, you little pest. You know nothing of what its like out there, so just shut up."

The creature dodged just in time, scooting even closer to her. "Oh, but I do, Devi. I do. And what I see is merely imperfection. You're afraid of anything…inadequate. But I can change that for you, Devi. Just give me one chance to-"

"No!" Devi growled sternly, her arm lashing out and gripping the thing by its neck. "If I've made one thing perfectly clear, it's that I won't be subjected to your shit. The last thing I need is something is annoying and horrid as you back in my life, Sickness. I won't fall into old ways."

Sickness laughed devilishly under Devi's tight grip. "There's that word again. Perfect. Perfection is overrated, Devi. You of all people should know that. You have an outstanding record of acting as such. As if you're standing there like the fucking world is its own mess. That you add nothing to it. Well, I'm here to simply remind you that you do."

Devi stared hard, her body quivering.

"What makes you think that you're not the reason you don't lead a normal life, full of normal people?" Sickness questioned, dramatically. "Why is it that, possibly, you're not the sick one?"

"I took out your eyes once, Sickness," Devi warned, trying to stop the conversation before it became nothing more than full-out screaming. "I can do it again. All it would take are two simple plucks from your sad little sockets. Then in the trash they go. Don't think I'm not capable of doing it."

"Oh I know you're _perfectly _capable, dearest Devi," Sickness replied, backing down. It began to move back into the shadows, away. "I know you, inside and out of that little mind of yours. And if there's one thing I understand better than anything else about you, it's that you're weak. You're always a slave to something…"

Devi watched it go, relieved that it was leaving and she could finally be alone. It was unsettling to her not knowing where it was exactly that Sickness went and that it might spring at any moment, but at least it was no longer ranting in her ear about things.

Still, those last words stayed with her.

"_You're always a slave to something…"_

_Always a slave…to something…_

"Hey DeeeeeeeeeevvviiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!"

Devi almost slipped off of her couch, the scream shaking her out of her thoughts. She groaned heavily, knowing the voice, all too well, as that of her obnoxious friend. It made her sick to know what was coming when she opened that door.

_Wait_, Devi thought, quickly flipping off the lights. _Maybe she doesn't know that I'm home. Maybe she'll go away when she figures out that I'm not home. Maybe...Maybe…._

"Devi!!! Me and Spooky know you're in there!!" Tenna informed through the door. "We could hear you yelling! The walls and floors are paper-thin!! Okay, I'm coming in now, using that spare key I took from your house when you were at work and I jimmied the door O-pen!!!"

Devi's eyes went wide with fright. "My God…" she whispered, closing her eyes and diving over the couch to hide.

The door creaked open, streaming a light brighter than ever imagined. Devi stayed low, cursing herself at first for being such a damned child, but then remembering why she was doing it. _Don't breathe…_

"Boo!"

Devi sighed. She could never really win these little hide n' seek games of theirs. She deserved to be caught this time anyway, with the pathetic job of so 'hiding' that she had done.

Tenna grinned, sitting down on the floor next to her. "Hey Devi. Ready for the best night of your life!? 'Cause I am! Now let's go!"

"Look, Tenna, I'm really not in the mood for this right now," Devi inched away, making a face. "I have a lot of work to do and my apartment needs cleaning up…this just isn't the best night, is all."

"Oh, come on, Devi," Tenna groaned, holding Spooky to her chest. "You never have fun anymore. Like we used to. Remember when we would go out every night and make fun of the jocks and the preps that went into clubs and made fun of Goths? Those were good times, and suddenly, just because of a few weird dates-"

"A few? Weird?" Devi cut her off suddenly. "The guy shit his pants! How can anyone even think of that as simply weird? 'Excuse me, would you like some drippy feces with that chicken, ma'am?'"

Tenna wasn't finished. "Listen, Devi. This is our chance to go out and have a good time, so why don't you…" she grabbed the other woman's cheeks and pulled them out and upward so that it looked as if she was smiling. "-just put on a happy face?"

"I 'oing oo 'ill oo, 'Enna," Devi grumbled, feeling her cheeks ache in protest. She finally pushed her friend, and rubbed at her pained face. "What ever happened to letting someone stay home when they didn't feel like going out instead of bitching them to death? Its enough to make a person go horribly insane and agree to do as you want…"

"So you'll go? Yippee!!"

Devi rolled her eyes, smiling slightly. "Yeah, I'll go, I guess. Its not as if I'll be getting anything done here." She was glad that Tenna didn't bring up her obsession with staying at home. While the agoraphobia hadn't completely subsided, it had gotten better. If only a little.

"_I forbid you to leave, Devi…" _Sickness sounded in her thoughts.

Devi ignored her.

In her reasoning, she decided that she could either stay at home and allow Sickness to torment her into killing herself, or she could go outside and get killed by the world's assholes and a certain psychopath. There was no real right answer, so she decided that going out on occasion couldn't be anymore hazardous than staying at home.

And at least Johnny was intelligent.

"_Don't you dare do it, Devi… I'm warning you…" _Sickness' voice pounded in her head, but simply ignored the pest again and began following Tenna towards the door.

"_Come back in here, Devi. I'm warning you! If you leave, I can't be responsible for my actions! You'll regret it, I swear!"_

The voice's pleas and threats went unanswered as the door slammed shut behind the two women, and the creature sat there in the dark, contemplating its next move.

"Mark my words," Sickness spoke to nothing. "You drove me to this. Whatever happens next, is your fault, Devi…"

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"This is where you eat now, huh?" Devi remarked, standing outside of a peculiar Chinese restaurant. "Whatever happened to that 'Eat or Die' place you used to eat at religiously? I thought that was your favorite restaurant?"

"Well, after that waiter was hideously slaughtered, no one wanted to clean up the blood off of the floor," Tenna explained, leading the way inside. "They tried to keep the place going with the body there, hoping people wouldn't notice."

"Who wouldn't notice a fucking dead body in the middle of the floor?"

Tenna shook her head. "That wasn't the problem. Someone found a human spleen in their soda."

"How pleasant," Devi made a face as they sat in one of the booths. She sighed suddenly, looking at the surroundings. "What am I doing here?"

Tenna eyed her strangely. "Huh?"

"I just can't believe I decided to leave the apartment," Devi explained, staring at the tabletop. "I left when I know that something's going to happen. Something bad. Like every time I go out. I'm just asking to be killed…or just annoyed."

"Aw, you're just stressed," Tenna argued, smiling. "Spooky says, 'just relax' God knows you haven't gotten a decent night's sleep in months up until last week."

Devi shot her a confused look sitting back in her seat quickly. "How did you know? I haven't mentioned anything about how I'm sleeping…"

Tenna laughed, and quickly replied in a somewhat muffled voice, "I put a camera in your room…"

Devi groaned, resting her elbows on the table. "Wonderful. So that's how you knew that I was home, is it? Where is it?"

"Actually, the screaming, as I said earlier, is how we knew you were home," Tenna explained, squeaking Spooky. "Talking to yourself again? You should get out more, ya know? They say its unhealthy to stay at home all the time."

"Who's 'they' exactly?" Devi questioned, sitting back and crossing her arms.

Tenna stared. "…you know…they….anyway, why do you keep talking to yourself? You wouldn't have that problem if you went out once in a while and got yourself a boyfriend or something."

"If I had a boyfriend, he'd just try to kill me," Devi announced, "It's always the same thing, I guess. Maybe I should just run off in seclusion and never come out. I'll be a hermit; a crazy lady that throws cats and small children at other small children. And sometimes rocks just to see them cry so it'll cheer me up."

"See? That's the talk that's making all the single hotties run off," Tenna persisted, "We need to fiddle around with your brainie. All I need is magic marker and some tweezers and Tada! You're cured!" She stood up on the chair, raising her hand up. "Let the fixing begin!!"

"I'll pass," Devi stated. "If I want to be fixed, I'll do it myself. At least I know what part of the brain needs to go." _It's the part with that sick little freak walking around and existing . That's the part I need to get rid of_, she added mentally.

_Speaking of which…I wonder what that bitch is doing now…_

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She scrambled around in the darkness, not even sure if she had gone the right way. This house was quite a ways away from Devi's quaint little box home in a building, and Sickness couldn't be sure just how much she remembered from her host's mind.

"Damn that Devi," Sickness growled, stopping to try to collect the directions from Devi's old memories. "Trying to suppress everything. She can really ruin plans when she wants to…"

Finally spotting the house just across the house the street, she glanced around, making sure there weren't any mortals around that would see her. Finding that the area was clear (it was so late, that no one would be out and about on a night so cold in a happy neighborhood like this), she grinned and scampered across the street, feeling her wretched legs move faster when a dog started barking.

The house looked virtually deserted as she stepped up to its door; she was ready to enter until a loud screech sent her hiding along the house's side.

Within the walls came another screech, and another. The sounds weren't a little faint, but she would be surprised if no one heard it. A second look around the neighborhood allowed Sickness to see that the neighbor's light was one: one room, on the bottom level. There seemed to be a slight exchange of words from the lit house for a moment, before the light went out and all was silent.

Then a stomping sound occurred, from inside the house she hid by. The sound of someone ascending or descending a staircase. Confusion overcame the figment. From what she had gathered out of Devi's memories, there was only one floor to Johnny's dwelling.

The stomping soon stopped, but it was followed by a dull series of thumps, getting closer and closer. The front door flew open, and a shadowed figure stepped out, and proceeded to walk down the driveway and down the street.

Sickness shuddered. It felt as if all the negativity in the world was writhing within the man who had just left. She found it…invigorating. Now she could understand why the Master wanted him so much. Out of all the beings in the world, she finally understood why he was so special.

She quickly shook her head, almost forgetting why she was there. With that man gone, she could finally see him, and tell him what was wrong. Cautiously, she moved towards the door, and entered, watching for any sort of dangers; other figments who might've been violent towards any intruders in the house. Who knew what could exist in the deranged world of Johnny C. little world…

It was dark inside, almost black, but the moon through the window provided enough light for her to manage her way around the pools of blood and discarded knives. Finding the master wouldn't be an easy task.

"And what are you doing here…?" a voice suddenly questioned, sounding more amused than angry. "Shouldn't you be off somewhere, scraping and scavenging for more scraps for him?"

Sickness glared, knowing the owner instantly. "Perhaps," she retorted, "but at least I'm doing something productive instead of sitting around, shamelessly nailed to a wall, Eff."

Fuck groaned, despising her ignorance. "It's a knife, you moron, not a nail. And I'm not here by choice. If I could get this blade out of me, don't you think I'd be serving him?"

Sickness laughed, loudly and evilly. "Hardly. I think you'd be off, pursuing your own dreams of becoming real, you doughboy fuck. Just as you did last time. Don't think that the master has forgotten you conniving ways."

Eff grinned. "You always were under the belief that you were on top. But if that were true, you wouldn't be here now. All the figments know of your failure with Devi D. And she didn't even have other figments intervening to stop you. You're as high up on the Master's shit list as I am. So there."

"I can't be bothered with such stupid things," Sickness growled, looking away. "I'm here to find the Master. I know he's here. All this….negative energy. He has to be here."

"I'm afraid you're wasting your time," Eff giggled cruelly. "All that so called 'negative energy' is from the boy. But then, you felt his trail as he left the house. The evil pouring out of him. It made you feel good, yes? Something to feed off of?"

Sickness nodded dumbly.

"That, my simple minded friend, was true insanity," Eff informed. "You don't remember, do you? It's been so long since you had a taste of that. It's been a long time since you were locked away in Johnny's brain, then when he met Devi, he passed you on to her. You're so contagious. And now all you've gotten to eat are table scraps of developing insanity from Devi. How sad."

"What do you know of it?!" Sickness snapped. "You don't! Ever since you escaped from Johnny's head, you've gotten a free ride. You and Psycho doughboy were always the master's favorites. Everyone knows it. That's why he had you stay here with Johnny, close to him, where insanity comes in bulk. Some of us aren't so lucky!"

Eff forced a warm smile and extended a hand towards the other figment. "Calm down, calm down. Why are you here anyway? Need help?"

"Not that it's any of your business, but yes," Sickness snapped. "Devi…she's gotten out of control. She doesn't listen to a word I say. Sometimes…she doesn't even acknowledge the fact that I exist. She's not responding like she should be!"

"So she's getting stronger, yes?" Eff whispered. "Or you're getting weaker? Or both perhaps. She'll be able to drown you out in no time, I take it. Its getting harder and harder for you to move around, isn't it, Sickness?"

"Yes," Sickness responded unpleasantly,

"You'll be inanimate again. Or at least immobile," Eff informed, though he knew she already knew that. "But maybe…no, never mind."

Sickness glanced upwards, cautiously. "Whuh-what is it? What were you going to say, Eff?"

"Nothing important," Eff giggled inwardly. "It's…really not your thing. You're too proud-"

"What is it?"

Fuck grinned, almost unseen in the dark. "It's just that, you're too proud to accept help from someone like me. If you were, let's say, to let me down from here, I would be more than willing to assist you in destroying Devi's control over her sanity."

Sickness looked away. "You…you would do that? You would help me…?"

"Yesssss."

"What's the catch?" she suddenly snapped. "You were never one to just help someone for free. You and Psycho. The both of you were in it for something more. The only reason you continued to keep Johnny alive was for your own schemes to become real. There must be a catch to this."

"Come now," Mr. Fuck laughed, wriggling against the knife that impaled him. "Not everything needs a catch. I believe that my intentions are obvious. I simply want to aid in destruction of someone's mind. I've grown so bored here, Johnny unable to hear my words, and Psycho practically dead. He hasn't spoken in months, it seems. I would simply like to move."

"How?" Sickness queried. "Devi doesn't even know that you exist and Johnny doesn't allow himself to believe that you exist. You can't even walk, let alone somehow make it to Devi's apartment."

"I assure you," informed the doughboy, suppressing his laughter. "I can move. We'll call it miracle of sorts, eh?"

"And all that I have to do is release you?"

"Yessss…."

Sickness was silent for a moment, staring thoughtfully at the Styrofoam creature. "Very well, Fuck. I'm too desperate to say no right now, so I'll let you down. Just remember: Devi's MY host. Not yours. You're simply here to help me."

Eff tried to nod. "Of course," he cooed gently, watching her through half closed eyes.

Sickness leapt upwards in a tremendous jump, grabbing the handle of the knife. She hung there for a second, before jolting her body up and down, shaking the weapon until it finally popped out of Eff, and fell to the floor.

Eff hit the floor with a hard thud, bits and pieces popping out of his body, and a rather visible scar of where the blade had been set. He groaned, and gradually stood, feeling the effects of being immobile for so long. He glanced at Sickness, setting himself up finally, and flashing a smile.

"Now then," he giggled. "Where do we find Miss Devi D.?"

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"Well, that was fun," Devi muttered sarcastically. She took a few more steps up the stairs before glancing at Tenna behind her, who was giggling like an idiot, ogling Spooky. Devi rolled her eyes. "Way fun…"

Tenna looked up from the toy and replied with excitement, "I thought so too. When the waiter dropped all that chicken in your lap, I thought you were going to pop with anger. That would've been so cool. And then the police chase, and that guy that took you hostage, Lucky he had already used up all the bullets, huh?"

Devi glared, but Tenna didn't seem to notice, returning her attention back to Spooky. "I'm going to bed, Tenna," the other girl stated, not expecting her friend to reply. "You have a wonderful night." She left the girl at the bottom of the stairs, heading up to return to her own little sanctuary.

She could honestly say, she wasn't sure what to expect. For a while, now that Sickness had been out and about, never venturing close enough for Devi to grab her, the figment had been angry and temperamental. Every time that Devi disobeyed the creature, it went into fits, usually while the host was out. Devi would return to a thrashed apart, many of her newest paintings completely destroyed.

She compared this to having a dog.

"No matter what," she whispered, her hand resting on the doorknob to her apartment. "Don't give in. If you give in, she'll just try to harvest your mind again. If you resist, she'll weaken. She'll weaken and die without my mind…be tough…"

She pushed the door open, eyes suddenly seeing nothing but darkness, save for the dim moonlight shining through her window. Rustling could be heard on the other side of the room, which Devi decided could only be Sickness.

"Sickness? Where are you? If you destroyed any of my paintings again, you little bitch, I'll kill you," she threatened, hand searching for the light switch. Something slapped her wrist hard, and she yelped, withdrawing her hand from the wall.

"Sickness! So help me, God, I'm going to kill you!" She shrieked, rubbing her throbbing wrist. "I'm not messing around. Get over here, now. So I can kill you."

"Hello, Ms. Devi D."

Devi looked around in the darkness, her eyes scanning the floor for the voice's owner. "Sickness? Sickness, I'm in no mood for your sick little games right now. Come out."

"No…" the voice whispered, and Devi could now tell that it wasn't Sickness's usual tone, or actual voice for that matter. It sounded deeper, calmer, male. It sounded close. "I'm afraid not. You see, I don't want you to think me rude, but I would prefer it if you would close the door behind you. It's so much safer that way…for you."

Devi hesitated. "Who's there? I'm warning you to come out and show yourself…" She took a step back. Suppose it was a burglar or someone who wanted to hurt her. He sounded pretty sick. "I'm not going to warn you again. Come out or I'll scream…"

"Now, is that any way to treat an old acquaintance?" the voice went on, slowly. "And here, I thought perhaps we might get along. But I guess I should've expected this kind of insolent behavior from you. The way you've managed to get away so many times from the very things that should've eaten you. You're voices for example."

The door suddenly slammed closed behind her, and Devi felt the room grow cold and empty. She wrapped her arms around herself and shuddered in panic. Her eyes began to adjust to the darkness, and near the window, she vaguely made out a strange figure coming towards her.

"Devi, Devi, Devi," the voice came closer. "You just couldn't give in, could you? You just had to fight those voices, those urges. Had to gain control of your life." The figure was directly in front of her just then, pulling Devi to her hands and knees, and whispering softly in her ear, "Well, I'm here to _make _you give in. You've gotten away from us for too long. We can't have any more of you sick humans cast us aside. It's our time to gain control, and we're going to pick up where we last left off. With you."

"Who are you?" Devi growled, reaching for the creature but finding it wasn't there. "Who do you think you are, coming in here and telling me who's in control?"

The light came on, but only briefly, giving Devi a look at the thing, with its white tone, and vacant eyes, that Styrofoam body; staring at her with a knowing grin. She screamed and scrambled for the door, but Sickness came to stand in her path. The lights went out and she was plunged into darkness for the second time.

"Sickness! Stop playing with the lights!" the Styrofoam grunted.

"So sorry, Devi," Sickness grunted sympathetically. "But…this is for the best."

"Dear, sweet, stupid Devi," the Styrofoam replied, humor in its voice. "I'm sorry things have to be this way, but you see, Sickness simply couldn't handle you on her own. She needs help to handle such a disobedient slave. And I must say, I was up for the challenge, as my previous," it coughed, "owner abandoned me. Left me for dead. Its simply dreadful when your owners can't hear you anymore. But I digress. As the newest addition to your so called 'world', you may call me Mr. Fuck, or Eff. Whichever you prefer."

"This can't be…" Devi muttered, kicking Sickness aside and flipping the lights back on. She turned to Eff, glaring with all the rage of hell. "Listen, you little freak, I don't know how you got in here. I don't even own any Styrofoam 'things', but I'm not going to be subject to **one **figment's little trail of shit, let alone two figments. So you can walk your little doughboy ass out of here and go back to whatever sewer you crawled out of."

Eff shrugged her off, turning his attention to the apartment itself. "My, my, what lovely surroundings. Much nicer than my last host's. He was such a slob. It was all mess here and shit there. Not entirely fulfilling for yours truly. I suppose it's a good thing he let go of us. I would continue living in the same run down shack as he is."

Devi grabbed the doughboy and held him up so that they could see eye to eye. "I don't think so. You're not making yourself comfortable in my mind. I won't have it. I've already got Sickness to flush out of this hellhole party of mine, and you're not invited." She cast him aside, watching as a few small pieces broke away from him.

"I'm giving you one last chance," she warned, advancing on the place where he had been thrown. "Get out of my apartment and get out of my head."

Eff stared at her, the maddened grin never once leaving his face. "No, I'm giving **_you _**once last chance, Devi D. Give in of your own will, or we**-I **will make you give in."

Devi smirked, narrowing her eyes. "You don't seem to understand exactly what you've gotten yourself into. Sickness can tell you; I didn't give in last time, and I won't give in this time. I'll tear out that little shit's eyes and I'll break you in half. I'm not going through this again."

Eff laughed, low and deep, sending a shiver up the woman's spine. He could feel it through her hands. "Oh, Sickness was right about you. I was hoping that you would struggle, like fish on a hook. You are as the others say, Devi, a challenge. I need something fun in my system after the last host. I do believe that this will be most….enjoyable."

Devi suddenly felt a sharp blow to the back of her head and she went crashing down to the floor, unable to stop her fall. She rolled over against the floor, facing up towards the ceiling.

Eff's face came into view as her vision began to fade, eaten by black. He smiled, shaking his head in pity, and finally spoke to her, as though she were a child, speaking to her in a most disappointed way. He sighed, "My boy, too, was a slave, Devi. He had to fight as well. You may have won the last battle. But I can assure you, things change. If it's not us, it's something else. You're always a slave to something…"

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A/N: I love that line.


	3. SiMPLiciTy

A Negative Mind

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Disclaimer: All belong to JV.

Chapter 2: SiMPLiciTy

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Devi could not remember a time when everything had hurt so much. Physically, that is. Emotionally was a different story altogether, what with the plethora of disaster dates she seemed to be engaged in at every possible, shitty moment.

When she had come to, finding herself on the floor, the first thought that came to mind was the question of what exactly had happened. She recalled in her last memory before the world went black, that there had been a voice, unlike anything she had ever heard.

Scratch that. It did sound familiar, as if from a dream long ago. If she could possibly pinpoint this familiarity, then perhaps she could figure out where the little fuck came from.

It came back to her suddenly. Mr. Fuck, right? Eff. The doughboy who had surprised her so suddenly, then, with the aid of that little bitch Sickness, rendered her unconscious. The very event that led to the pain she was experiencing now.

"God, my head," she whimpered, lying on the couch. The wound was still bleeding, not as much as it had been previously, but it didn't appear to be stopping. Great, maybe she'd bleed to death. Hell, if it got her away from Sickness and her Styrofoam boyfriend, then fine.

"I assure you," that familiar voice came out of the darkness like some kind of monster reaching out from under a child's bed. "I am not her boyfriend. Don't tell her that though. She's under the impression that she matters. I can see where she gets the idiocy from."

Devi stiffened, tempted to look over the side of the couch and engage in conversation with the foul little beast. However, the pain in her head and the fear in her chest stopped her from doing so. She took a breath and held it in, hoping Eff would go away.

"Oh, come now," the tiny creature giggled. "I was only joking. I know you can't help the fact that she's young and stupid. It really isn't your fault. She's just under the delusion that someone cares enough about her situation to help her out." He paused, stepping closer, that devilish grin across his face. "But then again, you know what that's like, don't you, Devi dearest? You think that maybe if you weren't alone, the shit will go away so easily. Everything will cease the struggling and you'll be in control again. That's it, isn't it?"

Devi didn't answer the question. If he was so damn sure of himself, then let him believe what he wanted. She didn't need to look more vulnerable than she must've already appeared, and purposely reveal her fear. "Where Sickness?" she asked, seeming disinterested.

"That mediocre virus?" Eff chirped, unable to hold back his laughter. "I sent the little rotter on an errand of sorts. Amazing what you can convince someone to do, even when they're under the belief that they're in charge."

"Yeah, you're a fucking prize, aren't you?" Devi spat as she sat up, ignoring the throbbing. "I don't understand why you little freaks have to keep tormenting me. Its as if I'm a shit magnet or something. Well, I can reassure you that I'm not like Sickness, and I'm not about to be dragged around on a fucking leash by something like you."

Eff laughed loudly; one that just abruptly came out of nowhere. Devi jumped at the sound. "My goodness, you're so sure of yourself, eh Devi? How cute. I didn't even notice the obvious quivering in your voice, you know? Ah, my. Nothing like harvesting one's mind for the survival of the so-called Master. Though its quite time-consuming, the outcome is more than worth it. The Master is happy, so everyone's…"he growled a little, "happy."

Devi smirked, a little hesitantly, but Eff didn't seem to notice that much. "Seems like you don't care much for the 'Master's' happiness. What's wrong? Is the poor baby not getting his bottle?"

Eff raised an eyebrow, and turned his back to the woman. "Let's just say that I've certainly had enough of playing 'slave' for a while. Succumbing to higher powers isn't exactly what I would consider fun, but it is for the master. Not to mention the fact that if either Sickness or my ex-companion Psycho were to find out that I have grown tired of the game, they would be more than willing to tell the Master."

Devi's smirk never left. It grew into a wide, devilish grin as she listened to him rant; he was obviously unaware that talking so much would be quite a disadvantage. "So…What if I were to tell Sickness all about it? I'm sure that your Master or whatever would more than happy to destroy you for planning mutiny against it."

Eff smiled unpleasantly. "Hardly. I'm not like Sickness. I'm not expendable. He'd give me a good spanking, though not in the sexual sense that you humans seem to enjoy, put me back in what he considers 'my place,' and then send me back to the harvesting fields. Its all relatively simple, though it would be extremely painful. This is the second time, of course."

"Seems to me like you don't want to listen."

"Oh Devi," Eff sighed, still smiling. "Please refrain from going all psychoanalyst on me. You're already terrible at stating the obvious. Now, what shall we do now? Play a game perhaps? How about Spin The Bottle?"

Devi glared. Hard. "How about not?" she growled, standing up. She quickly grabbed her jacket hanging over the arm of the couch, and tucked it underneath her arm.

Eff's smile faded. "And where do you think you're going? Shouldn't you get that head wound checked out? Its still bleeding."

Devi tapped the wound again with her fingers, wincing at the pain, then looked on at her hand. Bloodstains. Angrily, she wiped it away on her pants and proceeded to latch on to the doorknob. "What does it matter to you? I don't care. I have to get away from you little freaks. I thought maybe that seclusion in my own apartment would be halfway decent, but no. I just can't get away from the shit, can I?"

Eff just stared, scowling; he seemed to be disappointed that she was leaving him. Alone.

Devi shook her head, opened the door and headed out. For some strange reason, she felt a little guilty for leaving him in there all by himself, and promptly smacked herself for having such thought and feelings for someone who was trying to drive her further down the trail of insanity.

Granted, it was ten times worse out there in the city than inside her quaint little room, but she needed to think about everything. And maybe even get some medical attention along the way. The wound was still bleeding, even after the long(?) while she had been unconscious.

"_Devi." _A voice jolted her from her thoughts. _"Devi, I want you to come back." _

She whirled around, expecting to see Tenna, or perhaps the landlord, or maybe even Johnny. But there was nothing; just a simple stairwell and her own doom- impended mind. She was searching for her voice, almost nearly unable to find it. "Who…who's there?" her voice felt beaten, as if she was getting laryngitis, and she couldn't seem to be able to speak without stuttering.

"_I mean it, Devi," _the voice continued, growing more and more powerful with every word spoken. _"Come back now. Its scary out there. You'll die if you go out. He'll be there, waiting to kill you. And there's no telling what could happen to you in the stairwell…."_

"Eff? It-its you, is-isn't it?" Devi whispered, successfully keeping control over her words and the appearance of stutters. "Just leave me alone. I need time to myself. I swear, if you do anything, I'll-"

The light above her began flickering violently, and a tremor ran its course up her spine. "Eff? What are you doing? Stop it, dammit. I'm not here to p-play any games with you! Understand? So knock it off!"

"_You're quite good at convincing others to do as you please, or so you would like to think," _Eff whispered, his voice echoing all over her brain. _"That's not the case here, Devi. While I exist in your life, I'm the one in control, not you. You are a simple pawn. Now, come in. Do us all a favor. Do yourself a favor."_

Devi didn't say anything. She ignored him, or tried to, entirely, and took that first step down. The light went out, plunging the area in darkness. _Keep it together, Devi. He can't do anything. He's a fucking piece of Styrofoam. That's all. You're in control. You just have to keep it together…_

"_Very well, Devi," _Eff sighed, sounding as if he were giving up. _"It seems you don't like to listen, and that's an inability I need to take care of before the situation gets worse. I guess I'll have to make you come back, then won't I? Go ahead, Devi. Look over the railing, down into the furthest reaches where the stairwell ends, to the basement. Go on. Have yourself a looksie."_

Devi gulped. Taking a risk she knew that she'd later regret, she put her hands on the railing for support and peaked over the side.

There was a low growling noise a few floors down and, suddenly, a hand reached out and grabbed the railing as well. It was thin and sickly tinted. The light on that floor was flickering as well, and it abruptly went out completely. "Deeevvi…" it called, in a tone so familiar it sent the woman's heart straight into her throat.

She wanted to run back into her room, but she was frozen, her hands unable to rip themselves from the steel bar. _Oh God, oh God. _"Eff. Eff, stop it now! I'm fucking around, you little shit! Stop messing with my head!"

"_Am I messing with your head, Devi? Can you be so sure?" _Eff's voice seemed so far away now, distant, but pounding in her brain. _"Do you really want to take that risk?"_

Devi was still awestruck, watching as the demon figure from down the stairs as beginning to head up the flight, slowly, almost in an animated sort of way. For a moment, she could swear it looked up at her, with eyes that she had seen before, somewhere… _No, I don't want to remember anything that could scare me more. Its all in my head…Its all in my head…_

"_Go on, Devi. Walk down the steps and face your fear. Its been consuming you for so long now. Why not destroy it, or are you much too frightened….?"_

Devi gulped again and stepped back up the stairs, never taking her eyes off of the mysterious monster below. "You're fucking with me. I know you are! Make it stop now, or I'll kill you!"

"Devvviiiii," the monster was coming closer; Devi assumed that it was just one flight under her. "Let's make something of this moment….I want to make it laaaaast foreeeever…."

Devi screamed, as the creature came further, its true form exposed to her in the dim light. The thumping of its boots against each step haunted her, ringing in her ears. She tried to move, tried to tear her eyes away, but she remained frozen in place, fear striking her heart over and over again like a match that refused to be lit.

"_Well, how about it, Devi Dearest?" _

Sweat dribbled down her forehead, her breathe scarce. She wanted to get out of there so badly, but didn't want to even think about returning to the apartment. But really? What were her options? Go down the flight of stairs to her obvious death at the hands of…She shook her head, not wanting to thinking of who it could be. Not wanting the memories to flood back again of something that had once been so beautiful.

But then…she could always return to the apartment anyway. Back to safety. Back to Sickness, her fears, her paranoia…back to Eff. A shudder squirmed up her spine. No. She couldn't go back. She just couldn't face what was awaiting her back in that room; the voices were coming back…what if they made those promises again? That she could have and do whatever she wanted? She didn't believe that she'd be able to fight them again. She'd lose.

"Eff, fucking stop this!" Devi heard herself scream. "Stop it and go away, you little shit!"

The creature on the stairs neared, finally reaching the last flight towards her. It waited at the bottom for a moment, rasping and panting, its breath deep and sounding as though it had water in its lungs. Then, it began to ascend.

"Deeeeeeeeevii…."it bellowed coldly. "Come back to meeee…..immortalize the moment….with….meeee……Wee can diieeee…together…"

Devi didn't bother to let it get any further. The fear was overwhelming, beating down on her harder than it had ever done before. Unable to control herself, she felt her legs take control, and turned around. She could feel the monster behind her, creeping along, speaking those words that nearly forced vomit out from her throat.

The doorknob to her apartment only seemed to get further and further away with every step she took to reach; it was like a dream, a horrible, horrible nightmare that brought her to her knees with every second that passed.

With one final lunge at the door, she gave the knob a hard twist and shoved herself inside.

It was so overwhelming; everything was just too big to deal with. Her head was a mess and over and over again, the monster's voice played in her head, tormenting her. She fell to the floor, still frightened and exhausted.

There was a soft chuckle, and a cold, Styrofoam hand touched her head gently, petting her hair, as though she were a dog. Her gaze went upwards, falling on Eff and his vicious grin. "Poor dear. You were gone a total of two minutes and forty two seconds. You just can't resist my charms, yes?"

His hand suddenly stopped being gentle and gripped a large clump of her hair tightly. His smile disappeared, his eyes narrowed dangerously. "You little shit. Perhaps now you'll listen to me. The consequences aren't as fucking pleasant as you thought they would be, are they, Ms. Devi?"

Devi didn't answer; instead she raised her hand out to knock the little prick away. He dodged it quickly, though not letting go of her hair, and managed to tear out a good half of a half of a handful. He stared at it for a moment, and, with a look of disgust planted on his features, threw it away. "Disgusting. You humans are just crawling with vile, little vermin all over your wretched bodies." He added, with a hint of a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, "I want to be just like you."

Devi pushed herself up on her hands and knees, grabbing at her head where the hair had been ripped out, searching for the slightest sign of blood. "Holy mother of fuck…"she growled, dropping her hand to see the tiny little droplets of red adorning her fingertips now. Thankfully, the wound from earlier had clotted now, but she paid no mind to that. "What the hell was that? What was that fucking thing….in the stairway, Eff, you fucking shithead!"

Eff giggled in his wretched little way, and escorted himself to the couch. He was beginning to love this cushioning; it was so much comfier than Nny's had ever been, and it was free of rogue springs popping out of their free will to stab at people. Styrofoam or not, metal couch springs were just about as unpleasant as an angry, rabid giraffe with five nipples.

He laid back against it, feeling the wonderful softness against him, and another smile crept over his face, hiding a secret. Still, he had no means of unleashing that little thing until the right moment. For now, it was time to humor Devi.

And how he enjoyed it so.

"It was simply my going away present to you," he replied quaintly, shutting his eyes. "You seemed in such a hurry to leave….I simply can't allow you to go running off like that when I need you here, where I can see you."

Devi stood up, balancing herself on the doorframe. She glanced down at the bottom of the door, where a tiny crack of light shone in from the hallway under the door itself. A shadow passed by and immediately her heart fell out of her chest and into her stomach.

"I stopped fucking with your head the moment you came through the door, Devi Dearest," Eff giggled again, speaking in a tone that insinuated she was a common idiot. "You're almost as bad as our poor boy, though I must say, he was funnier to watch, and he wouldn't have run from something as pathetic as the figment of a figment. But you are stronger than he was. You did attempt to defy me, after all." He giggled again, but it wasn't as the others had been; it was low, deep. Unsettling. "Stupid girl. That just means I'll have to work harder."

Devi glared, her hand covering the bleeding area. "What the fuck do you want from me? What the hell are you talking about! Your boy! What does your boy have to do with me? Why can't you just fucking explode and disperse into air and vomit!"

She took a deep breathe, realizing that she was probably just giving him the reaction he sought, and leaned up against the wall next to the door. "God, I don't have time for this. Ever since Sickness came into my life, everything's been nothing but shit, and I can't fucking find a way out. Its like a God damn maze or something."

"Before," Eff interrupted her thoughts.

Devi stared in his direction, raising an thing eyebrow. "What?"

"Before Sickness," the doughboy reminded, poking his head over the side of the couch. "Your shitty life suffered its worse blow BEFORE Sickness wandered in. There was some random memory I came across in your mind, as I recollect, searching around for no reason other to fuck with you. As I recall, you stumbled into someone you shouldn't have."

She tried not to seem fazed, to hide her reaction. She failed in doing so, responding with much more than a hint of curiosity, "Nny…" She turned away, cursing herself for saying his name, his nickname; cursing herself for remembering it.

"So you see, it was before Sickness came along that everything went downhill in such a way that it would fuck with your head," Eff continued, as if never wanting to end the conversation. "Of course, I've also been informed that Nny is the reason that you have Sickness in the first place. Caught his disease, did you? Like an STD or something. Tragic thing, that."

Devi said nothing, not wanting to give anything else away, perhaps something that he wasn't aware of yet.

"So tragic about that boy, too."

That grabbed her attention, holding it in his possession again, and she quickly jumped on the cushion seat next to him. Her eyes were filled with panic at his words, speaking about…it couldn't be the same one.

"Its horrible to know that his purpose really is…"Eff giggled to himself, an odd sort of habit for someone so conniving and mean, or at least that's how it seemed to Devi. "But I suppose I've gone on long enough about someone so young." He flashed her a knowing look, feeling her blood pound inside her pale body as if it were his own. "Todd misses you, you know."

"Alright, that fucking does it!" Devi shrieked, grabbing the Styrofoam figure by his head and holding him up. "I don't know what you really want with me, or how you really know about Nny and Todd, but if you so much as hurt that poor child, so help me God, I will fucking break you! Do you understand me, Mr. Fucking Fuck!"

"Oh Devi," a voice shot out in the darkness. "You really need to keep your temper under control. Who knows what it could do to you…"

There was yet another sharp pain against her skull, and Devi found herself reeling towards the floor for the second time. She released Eff in an instant, and he went flying somewhere; Devi guessed it was probably near the couch.

Going under once again, Devi made a powerful discovery about herself: She had only known him for less than ten minutes total, and already she decided she hated his guts.

----

"Oh my," Sickness smiled, dropping the oversized brick. "She's getting more blood all over the floor. Those may leave stains if they're not cleaned up soon."

Eff stared, watching the reopened cut on Devi's head spew out a thin trail of blood. He sighed out of annoyance. He glanced at Sickness, eyes narrowed and calmly hissed, "What the fuck did you do that for? What good did that possibly do? Tell me, Sickness, what random little thought in your small, sensitive brain led you to believe that knocking our dear girl out would help the situation at all?"

Sickness' smile faded, and the screws of her eyeballs turned inward at an odd angle, signifying her anger. "She had you in her death grip; she was ready to kill you. You tell me what fucked up voice in your egotistical brain mass said that my saving your filthy body wasn't helpful in some way?"

"I had everything under control!" Eff shrieked, for a moment, forgetting to hide his discomfort and rage. "I'm only doing what you asked of me, you simpleton! I'm getting her under our control; mind games, fucking around, making her uneasy through words and vocals, dammit. Beating her with blunt objects until her eye sockets fall out is no fucking way to get the desired effect!"

He sighed, turning his back to her, his Styrofoam hand rubbing against his throbbing forehead. He was getting a headache, the first since his talks with Nny long ago. It was the first sign of what was to come, now, and he might've jumped for joy if the situation at the moment completely and totally pissing him off.

He began searching for a way out.

"You're no good to me or the Master if you die," Sickness informed in a soft voice. "If she breaks you, then you disappear. And I can't have that. Not now, when we're so close."

Eff grinned, quite maliciously and so sudden, that it took the other figment aback. He took a quaint little step towards her, and she took a step back. "Yes…I've been meaning to talk to you about that; the whole 'we' thing, you know…. 'We'll do this' and 'we'll make her suffer' that….sit down, Sickness. Its time we had a chat."

Sickness winced.

"A loooooong chat…."

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A/N: Sorry for the lateness of this chapter. I was just thrown all over the place with other projects and a devilish writer's block foiled my plans of writing this chapter sooner. So sorry.


	4. The InFEstATioN

A Negative Mind

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Disclaimer: All belong to JV.

Chapter 3: The InFEstATioN

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"Deeeeeeeeevii…."it bellowed coldly. "Come back to meeee…..immortalize the moment….with….meeee……Wee can diieeee…together…"

"Deviiiiii….."

"Devii…"

"Devi…Devi?"

Devi blinked, her eyes large and bloodshot. She felt as if she hadn't slept for days. And for good reason too. She hadn't.

"Devi? Are you alright?" She glanced at the young man sitting beside her, his large eyes, full of worry and something else she was capable of putting her finger on. He ran a hand through his unruly mess of hair and asked again, this time a little more impatiently, "Devi. Are you okay? Say something."

Devi bit her lip, her cheeks turning an unmistakable shade of bright red. "I…I'm fine…I just…Where am I, again?"

The young man, raised a thin eyebrow, and began to impatiently tap his fingers against the wood of the table. "Well…you're with me…Johnny…aaaaaannnnddd…"he glanced up at her, his eyes filled with hurt. "We're on a…" he hunched over childishly, "a date."

His tone was hesitant. Devi guessed he was completely nervous about this whole thing, this…date. She gained her wits quickly, not wanting to hurt the poor boy's feelings. "I was only joking. Lighten up, Johnny." the name sparked something in the back of her mind that made her eyes widen, but she shrugged it off in an instant before Jonathan could notice.

A small smile defeated his frown, and he looked away, blushing slightly, his hands clasping one another near his jaw, elbows resting on the table. He glanced back, and the look nearly made his date melt. His gaze was so intense, so gorgeous.

Devi tried to resist. _So…I'm on a date…with this guy. But he's so innocent, so adorable, so…so…" _She snapped back out of her faze. "Oh... Right, heh heh. I was just joking with ya," she laughed in a fake manner before glancing down at her menu. "So, what are you having?"

Johnny appeared thoughtful, raising a thin finger to his lip as he reviewed the choices. "Well," he replied hesitantly, "I'm actually not all that hungry. Maybe its my nerves…" He looked away, slightly embarrassed. "Sorry."

Devi couldn't help but smile. "You know what? I'm not really hungry either. But I think that's because of all the popcorn from the movie. We probably should've seen the movie after dinner, you know? Like normal dates."

Johnny head snapped to attention. "Do you want this to be a normal date?" He looked slightly offended.

"What?" Devi needed to save this conversation, and quick. "No, or course not-I mean, isn't it normal already…I mean-" she took a deep breath. "What I'm trying to say is, that I like the way this date is going already. There's nothing I want to change about it…except…"

Johnny listened intently. "What?"

"I think we should go look at the stars…"

"NO!" Devi sat straight up, frantically looking about. "No stars! No stars!"

Finding herself sitting upon the floor of her grungy apartment, she closed her eyes, letting the tension seep away….and then return as she remembered the occurrences just before her blackout.

Eff…that little fucker. And Sickness. How dare that thing bring some Styrofoam virus into her life. As if she didn't have enough to deal with already. Speaking of which….

"Eff? Eff, where the hell are you?" Devi rubbed at her aching skull. "Where's Sickness? What the fuck have you two been doing?"

"Why, Devi," Eff's voice floated from the darkness. "We haven't been doing anything. Oh, I must admit, though, in the duration of your sleeping peace, Sickness encountered a little accident."

Something came out from the shadows, rolling across the floor like a rogue ball, and Devi stepped back when it came to her feet. Cautiously she reached down, and picked up the object. The sight caused her to gasp in both disgust and surprise and she dropped the thing instantly.

"Sick…Sickness…?"

The head found its way to where Eff was now standing in the open. He clasped it tightly in his hand and raised it up for Devi to see. "Very tragic, you know. One minute, we're in the middle of a wondrous conversation, and the next thing I know, I'm tearing her head off." He giggle for a moment, before becoming quite serious. "The little bitch had it coming. Fucking questioning my authority, when it was she who asked me for help!"

He kicked the head across the room; where it landed, Devi could not say. She stared at the little Styrofoam figure as if he had gone mad, and backed into the door. "Oh don't you dare crawl away from me, Devi. You're in this up to your neck now, girl. Its already happening. I can feel my body becoming more whole. Fuller."

"Oh my God," she breathed, closing her eyes. "Your insane. You're fucking insane!"

"No, no, my dear," Eff answered, pleasantly. "You appear to be the one who's insane, or at least you will be in a matter of hours. You're like a fucking insanity gold-mine. The intense negative waves of craziness are just flooding out of every pore! And the more intense your insanity develops, the more real I become. If things keep going my way, I'll be human in no time!"

"So that's what this is?!" Devi shrieked. "You're fucking with my brain just so you can be human! So what then? You're human! And then what?! Are you just going to waltz right out of here and kill people, just like Nn-" She stopped short, nonchalantly waiting for the creature to reply.

Eff frowned. "Well, that's up to you, Devi. You're being given a golden opportunity here; after all, you're going to be crazy anyhow. Might as well have a friend in all of it. But…judging from the pet names you still carry around for our old friend, Johnny, perhaps you'd prefer his company over mine…" He stared at her in an unsettling sort of way; goosebumps trailed her arms. "I hope that isn't the case…"

"You…you knew Johnny?" She asked, attempting to change the subject. "But you told me you only knew of him from some random memory in my head. More lies?"

"Of course not. Johnny was our boy," Eff informed, quietly. "In fact, the only reason he attempted to kill you at all was because of us. Well, really it was just me." He turned to her, staring at her with Johnny's longing gaze. "He loved you, you know. Cared for you more than anyone else in the world. Probably still does. Its only because he lacked control that he went out of his way to do you harm."

Devi rubbed her scalp and headed towards the couch, frustration pounding against the walls of her skulls.

"Come now, Devi. I want to _**play **_with you…" Eff giggled, wrapping himself around her neck. His cold Styrofoam arms made her jump and she grabbed a hold of him, tearing him away and throwing him on the floor. He landed with a tiny thump and proceeded to laugh. "Oh, I can see why he liked you so much."

"Which reminds me," Devi hissed, standing in front of him. "Earlier, you said that we were 'acquaintances,' but I never don't recall ever meeting such a disgusting little bastard as you. Explain."

"You don't remember me," Eff whimpered sadly, looking wounded. "I'm-I'm crushed. I can't believe that you would have forgotten something as memorable as that man's face flying towards my counterpart and I and hitting that mirror. You really beat the shit out of the boy. It took him quite a while to recover of all the damage you did. But he did serve some purpose to us that night, infecting you with his disease."

"So…you're saying Johnny's insanity is contagious." Devi whispered. "Did he only infect me, out of all those people? Or was there someone else?"

"You remember Todd, yes? What am I saying, of course you do."

"That poor boy who lived next door to…yes, I remember," Devi replied, feeling a shudder run up her spine. "But I don't see how he has anything to do with you."

"Well, its quite humorous, you see," Eff chuckled. "He's sick. Sick as you are. Tainted by the very virus that consumes you. It wasn't long _before _that whole incident of his parents being horribly murdered that my other half and I realized this. It occurred just before our boy came home."

Devi eyed him suspiciously, sitting on the couch. Her hand clutched tightly to the arm without her even knowing that she had done it. "What did you do to him?"

"Oh, it wasn't I that chose him, you see. It was the Master," Eff explained, the malicious grin still plastered to his pale face. "The Master wants something to feed off of. An insanity to eat and eat and eat until he can break free. He saw something in the boy, and when he last journeyed into Johnny-boy's quaint little home in search of his bear, that's when we realized how right the Master was."

Devi paled. "Ugh, you're really freaking me out. Can you shut up with your unpleasant lies, if only for a little while. I'm tired of you."

"Lies!?" Eff seemed appalled at such an accusation. "Perhaps if there were some kind of benefit from doing so, then I would. But what good can come of my lying at the moment? Nothing. I'm surprised at you, Devi. I thought you knew better. Tsk tsk."

"Then what exactly did you do to Todd?" Devi demanded. "If you hurt him, I swear to God…"

"Now why on Earth would I fucking hurt him?" Eff snapped. "The Master needs him. Alive. Todd isn't exactly insane; yet, anyhow. But if the plan goes right, he'll be as sick as Johnny C. by his mid-teens. 16 is the goal. We still have a long while to wait however….so we needed to draw the insanity from another source."

Devi gulped audibly. She felt as if the room had grown ten times bigger. It was as if she was shrinking. "And what source might that be?" she asked, though already knowing the answer.

Eff smiled pleasantly, taking a seat next to her. He seemed to be growing. He was bigger now than he had been when he first arrived. And his 'skin' was darker. Not in a dirty way, but it appeared to be fleshier looking than before. "Why, you of course. But you already knew that didn't you? Such a smart girl."

"So…is your master feeding off of me now?" She asked, trying to sound more annoyed than frightened.

A flash of guilt could be seen on his face, there for only a moment, but Devi saw it. "Er, no. The Master doesn't know of your predicament. He doesn't know you're completely sick yet, and I wouldn't tell him if you were, either. I need you more than he does."

Devi scooted as far to the end of the couch as she could. "What for? What's so important that you need me? Are you going to eat my brain too, like Sickness? Or do you need me dead?"

Eff sighed in annoyance. "Nothing like that. Well, actually it does require the use of your brain, my dear. I need your insanity; your imagination. I need to be real. Its already working."

The woman growled, making an attempt to grab the little bastard and throw him out the window, but Eff effortlessly dodged her and jumped down to the floor. Devi stood, her fists clenched, his previous words clinging to her brain, shadowing any potentially intelligent thought she may have had.

"I want you out of my life!" she shrieked, lunging at him. He dodged her again, chuckling to himself and taunting her with obscene gestures. "I'm not going to become your little sickening insanity slave! I'm not going to let you force me to kill people! I AM NOT GOING TO BE JOHNNY!! GET OUT OF MY FUCKING LIFE!!"

"You forget one thing, Devi Dearest!" Eff cackled, suddenly leaping onto her shoulder and grabbing at her hair. "Its not your life anymore! Its MINE!" He gave her hair a righteous tug as he leapt off her shoulder, pulling her back. And back, and back. Until she fell against the floor. And didn't move.

She found herself exhausted, in pain, hurt. Her breath was rapid, her limbs sore, and she could swear that a large chuck of hair had been ripped right out of her scalp. She was unable to move, and Eff stood above her, that malicious smile, again, set across his cracked features.

"Go…..away…..leave me…alone," Devi choked out between breaths.

"You don't get it, do you?" Eff sneered, stroking the side of her face with his cold hand. Strange…..were those fingers….or at least would they be fingers soon? Fear struck her swiftly and hard. He was right. He had the upper hand. As long as she was controlled by her insanity, whether it was a lot or a little, she would be the victim and he would keep growing.

"No…you do get it now, don't you?" he smiled, still stroking the side of her face. "That look of fear and realization. Oh yes, you understand now." He bent down so that they were nose to 'nose'. "Why must you keep fighting me? Think of it: Once I'm real, I will stay at your side. You won't have to be alone anymore, and I won't have to return to my Master. We'll be free, living life without consequence, without fear. If anyone tries to get in the way of that, we'll simply do away with them, destroy them."

Devi's eyes widened.

"Kill them."

Wider. Fearful.

"And we'll be together. Think of it. Just you and me." Eff drove the idea into her mind, beating it into her at every opportunity. "Now, doesn't that sound nice?"

Devi felt her head nod, unknowing whether or not she had done that herself or if Eff had made her. Darkness took over once again, and Devi could feel fear all around her. At least she had one thing to be thankful for: she was getting a lot of sleep.

Eff watched her fall away into darkness, laughing to himself about that whole thing. It was working out nicely. The process was much quicker with Devi than it had ever been with Johnny. He supposed that this was because Devi had no one to help her as Johnny did with Nailbunny. Devi had no exterior voice of reason; she was alone. And also, Johnny had a severe problem with ADD it seemed, while Devi had a wonderfully on track mind.

Eff was loving this, knowing that he'd be real in no time. That is, until Devi uttered a single word through her darkness, a word that caught the Doughboy's attention, one that angered and worried him. It was something he would have to resolve.

"Nny…."

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A/N: Sorry, haven't updated in a long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long time. I hope this ending doesn't seem rushed, but I felt bad for not continuing it when I should've, so I apologize.

Also, this chapter has a couple references from the first story If Only I Could Dream. So if you don't understand and you'd like to, read that or skim it, or ask someone who's already read it.

Enjoy. :D


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